Relationships between study organization, retrieval organization, and general and strategy-specific memory knowledge in young children.
The present study examined relationships between young children's memory knowledge and their use of taxonomic and color memory organization. Forty-eight 5-, 6-, and 7-year-olds were administered metamemory tests of organization-strategy knowledge and general memory knowledge, and were tested on two study-recall tasks before, and two study-recall tasks after, training in the use of color or taxonomic organization. Study organization (grouping) scores were low before training, but improved significantly in post-training tasks. Training effects were less pronounced for retrieval organization (clustering) and did not occur for item recall. Relationships between taxonomic study and retrieval organization were apparent only for the 7-year-olds, while relationships between color organization at study and retrieval were not apparent at any age level. Relationships between metamemory, strategy-use, and recall proficiency were evident on some tasks for 7-year-olds, but not for younger children. Although teacher ratings of the children's mastery orientations were also found to be related to recall proficiency for the older subjects, specific strategy knowledge was a more consistent correlate of strategy use and amount recalled.
Lange
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Department of Child Development and Family Relations, University of North Carolina, Greensboro 27412.
Guttentag
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Nida
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D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003118:Color Perception; D003210:Concept Formation; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D012660:Semantics